"The Only Spiritual Life You Need Is Not To React." - Ramana Maharshi

When I read this quote, “I don’t mind what happens,” from Krishnamurti, I took it very seriously. It tore me open and caused me to confront myself in utter truth to see where I still really did mind what happens. It became a living path, not a destination, and as the years passed so a deeper and deeper softening happened. Still I embrace this profound invitation as a constant companion, for the world and its experiences can be cruel and harsh and unrelenting. It’s a path not a destination and a great tenderness must be embraced on the way home.

Here are some poems for you.

If you follow fear
It becomes your reality
The same happens with love.

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Exhausted by fighting with life
He laid down his arms
And surrendered 
His own wounded self
And discovered the freedom he thought
He was fighting for.
Surrender is the only answer.

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Maybe the world itself is your true lover
And everyone who arrives
Are actors and mirrors,
Representatives of the divine
Sent from beyond
To tease, to test, to beg you
To remember.

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If the heart
Is controlled by righteous mind
It is like a bird
Held captive in a cage
It is never seen in its true nature
Sweeping and soaring in the skies

I write these words
As one who, for much of his life,
Was held captive by fear
Then broke free
Now flies.

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People like to think of awakening
As a huge, momentous, awe inspiring
Trumpet resounding arrival at bliss

But really it’s a simple and subtle movement
From there to here
A step from distance to intimacy.

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I did not plan on this surrender
I was simply faced with no other possibility 
Unconditional love showed up in my life
And threw down the gauntlet
It said,
"Surrender everything you are
Thought, belief, all notion of self
All righteousness, all you have been,"
And I did.

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Home is a place you never left
But forgot all about
And then imagined
You couldn’t find your way back to
And then realized
You were there anyway.

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Just this
Fall in love
With your searching

It changes everything.

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Oh tender heart
That holds so much sorrow
That feels the world
And all its grief

Humble heart that breaks
Again and again
Until it shatters
And falls back into the ocean

Oh sweet heart
Full of joy and wonder
That longs to dance
The song of freedom.

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Whatever lie still exists in you
Will manifest itself
To get your attention.

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What can I do to help the world?

Go inside
Heal inner division 
And righteousness
Live from the unity of being
And carry the deepest love
Into every experience.

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A picture from yesyerday's online meeting.

Thanks for reading!